Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one. Martin Luther King, Jr.The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt. Martin Luther King, Jr. We must use time creatively. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Many whites want discussions of racism to be done and over with but the truth is it still exists even in the most subtle ways ever. Color-blind racism is a new kind of racism that exists today, not the old KKK kind of racism but the color-blind racism.Colorblind racism (1970- ), also known as aversive racism, is racism that acts as if skin colour does not matter – even when it does. It is the most common form of racismamong white Americans who grew up after the fall of Jim Crow in the 1960s. A part meaning of it in my words is that It is also the perpetration of stereotypes of African Americans and other people of African descent by whites. For example, when whites view media they see an image of people of African American portrayed in the media and believe that all people of African decent fit into stereotype mold or stereotype box. When present day whites believe these stereotypes of African American’s (the same stereotypes that their forefathers originally created and impressed upon U.S society), when present day whites believe these stereotypes they add some more stereotypes of their own and when they act upon these stereotypes subconsciously or consciously this is called prejudice. Thus the viscous cycle continues and endures. Like I said there really is no image of blacks, but an image that whites forefathers and ancestors created of blacks and sustained subtly by their fore-children(present-day whites) throughout the timeline of history to the present. Like I said this “image” is what whites make of it and what whites make of it will affect the daily lives of Hispanics, blacks, etc why because whites are still dominant in positions of power, dominant economically, socially, culturally etc. Stating that Hispanics are now becoming the majority proves nothing because Hispanics are not the majority in positions of power, whites are. Reminds me of Haiti and Jamaica where people of African decent where the majority during slavery days in the 1600-1800s and whites were the minority, but being the majority didn’t stop the fact that slavery of people of African descent(who were in the majority) existed in the Caribbean for 300 years. If you’re white you will never truly know what it is like because you are not on the receiving end of color-blind racism. You can try as best as you can, and that is fine it shows whites progress against color-blind racism, but you are still not in the shoes of someone who is of African decent. My experiences at an excessively white institution such as BYU and my experiences here in NYC as showed me that color-blind racism is rampant and at large. As long whites remain the most segregated racial group in all of the US, color-blind racism will exist. The color-blind worldview preaches that there is a thing called a neutral and colorblind society when the “laws” and goals about educational gains and social mobility have been designed & created by whites, for whites in other words to benefit whites and passed off as universal and just laws. It can’t truly be universal and just when these “laws” benefits whites at the expense of people of African descent or Hispanics or any other group for that matter. Was reading this article on facebook by Dr. Darron Smith, he stated that the responsibilities of educating whites shouldn’t be the responsibility of people of color instead it is antiracist whites who must shoulder that burden. These anti-racist whites would have been or would be schooled by people of African descent because they able to teach about the realities of racial oppression and how whites benefit from race supremacy. In order for this country to reach what it could be. I just think that Whites need to step aside from their positions of power and/or be more welcoming of people from other races &diverse backgrounds and stop being afraid. That was my experience with whites at BYU the majority were afraid to interact with people of color and at the Black Student Union, every person of African decent have had the same or similar experiences at BYU. When whites refrain from interacting with and forming meaningful friendship or any form of relationship with people of African descent they will continue to have stereotypes of people of color, continue to have prejudices, & there will continue to be inequality in the way power& money is distributed in the society because it is evident that whites continue to dominate positions of power. Barack Obama is a very good step forward (it’s a start) but there is more to be achieved to come to the realization of what Martin Luther King preached. Now MLK day isn’t celebrated in Jamaica for obvious reasons, not specifically apart of Jamaica’s history we do celebrate peeps like Marcus Garvey though.

The dream that Martin Luther King aspired in his speeches are still yet to be fulfilled in this time and age. Is it but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained?